Lightning
by something like human
Summary: Part4 of the Storm Arc. WuFei, Duo, and Quatre are on a mission that seems to disturb Duo and WuFei while Quatre is left to figure out what's going on.


Title: Lightning

Author: Something Like Human

Feedback: somethinglikehuman1@excite.com

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.  

Rating: PG13

Warnings:  Shounen ai (5 +2), adult themes, possible OOCness, language

A/N: The Storm Arc is still mostly based on the manga. I have now seen the first 15 episodes of GW on dvd. (thanks juu-sissy) But I still wanna stick to what I know, so I'll just say that I'm going off the manga. 

Note to storyline: This is the fourth part of the Storm Arc.  I believe that each fic can be read separately so if you haven't read the previous three (Thunder, Dark Clouds, & Rain), then you will still be able to understand this.  Then after you read this, go back and read the others!

Dedication: Juu-sissy and her clone, Aisha311 b/c they drool over Quatre as much I drool over WuFei.  Oh and we are all proud members of Quat's harem located in Juu's bedroom. (sorry Juu…couldn't resist reminding you of belly dancing and the harem-curtains in your room. I still have nightmares about Vina & Nina!)

Oh and this is Quatre's POV!!! (look I can "attempt" to write from someone else's pov other than WuFei!)  and PS: I'm not making him mean, just…uninformed a bit

I knew from the start that this mission was not going as planned.  We were in Central America trying to destroy a munitions plant that supplied the weapons for the Alliance's mobile suits.  I was scouting and back up, Chang was demolitions, and my friend, Duo, was to bring down their computer systems and help with demolitions.  When we arrived the day before, we were well aware of the mobile suit standing proudly in front of the factory.  We had not been informed that the plant itself was guarded that closely so we had to change our plans slightly.  We got more explosives and armed ourselves better that night. We weren't going in with our Gundams so we needed to be able to stop that suit before it could stop us. 

When we went in to do our job in the wee hours of the morning, the little village surrounding the plant was so quiet.  It was very much like one of the desert villages I stay in a lot of the time.  It was almost as dry here as it was there.  We passed by houses and other buildings with signs on them that I was unable to read.  My friend Trowa could have probably read them since he seems to understand many more languages that I do.  I knew my fair share of them because I was expected to be able to conduct business negotiations in the common languages of trade: English, Japanese, and Russian. Of course, I also spoke Arabic since that is what was spoken at home.  As a rule, when speaking with the other pilots, we generally spoke Japanese.  I wasn't even sure if Chang spoke anything other than Chinese and Japanese; and I had only ever heard Duo speak English and Japanese. So it was just best for all of us if we stuck to the common language.

I looked behind me to watch the other two pilots.  They had argued something fierce during our trek into the village. I was starting to get really annoyed with them.  One would be picking at the other one and then the other would start insulting the first one. I could never figure out who started it or really what was being argued about but it was just a constant.  At one point, I was sure that if they did not kill each other that I would!  Right now they were both silent since I had reminded them before entering the village of the need for stealth.  Looking back, it was somewhat silly of me to be reminding Duo about stealth. 

We passed what looked to be a small school, and then a graveyard that was connected to a church.  We were almost to the plant since past the church was the fence enclosing the factory. The mobile suit stood as a silent sentinel in the night.  It was time to work. 

We separated then to go about our business.  Duo and Chang entered the factory while I quickly placed explosives on the suit.  I then settled back to watch to make sure we were not caught by surprise.  If I saw anyone even come near the plant I was to blow the mobile suit up immediately.  That would signal the other two to finish what they were doing and evacuate.  If we were not seen, then they would exit the building and we would blow everything up including the suit. 

Minutes passed and nothing happened. It was like the whole town shut down during the night. It was actually getting closer to dawn but the sky was still littered with stars and the lights of the colonies. I was always amazed at how the stars looked from Earth. The night sky was just breathtaking.  

I was pulled from my reverie when I heard my mission partners approach me.  Duo was smiling like a cat that not only got the cream but also found a big, fat mouse with a limp.  I assumed that not only would the computer system no longer contain the information it originally had, but also if there were a remote server with a back up for once this place fell, it would contain something only Duo could program.  I pity the technicians who would find that.  

Silently we all ran back out away from the plant.  Once we got to a safe distance, simultaneously we each detonated the explosives we had placed with our remotes.  We were about to run before any of the villagers could get out on the street to see what the noise was when I heard Duo screaming "No!" and running back towards the blast zone.  I could see it then, some of the flaming debris had landed in the churchyard.  I could not tell from where I was standing if any had actually hit the building.  

"Zero-Two, we have to evacuate! Turn back now!" I yelled at the other boy.  I then looked to Chang to tell him to stop Duo but he was already running the same way back towards the church.  Despite my better judgment, I followed in hopes to pull those two back.  It was just a building.  The villagers could rebuild.  It was not like it was the middle of the day and full of people.

When I got to the church, Chang was trying to put out some of the flames on the debris near the church.  Duo was pounding on the door yelling something that sounded like "pa-dray".  

"02, stop now, we need to leave before we're caught!"

"No! I can't let it happen again!" He replied franticly and pounded harder.  

A moment later, a man appeared at the door with his eyes wide and reflecting the orange flames, he eyed us incredulously.   Duo spoke to him rapidly in what I assumed was Spanish and I only caught a few syllables.  I could hear him repeat that "pa-dray" word again and something that sounded like "fu-ay-go" when he pointed to the flames.  The man ran back into the building and Duo followed him.  A moment later they emerged with buckets.  

"Quat, man the pump and hurry!" Duo yelled at me.  I turned and saw an ancient outdoor water pump.   I started driving the handle up and down as the water spilled into the buckets.  Chang, Duo, and what I assumed to be the priest ran around and tried to extinguish the fire at the church while behind us the rest of the village had woken up to the flaming factory.  When I saw other villagers run towards the church, I grabbed Duo's arm and yelled at pilot 5 to run now. We did not need to be spotted by anyone else. 

Outside the village, there was the jeep we left ready for our escape. I hope no one has spotted it or we are in trouble.  We just have to make it to the nearby city and pick up our cover story there of being tourists.  We may have to alter that plan now that at least some villagers have seen our faces at the scene. I do not know what Duo was thinking when he stopped to help. Sometimes he is too impulsive for his own good. Like the other day when we were 'touring' the city we are staying in.  He gave his entire lunch to the grubby little hands of the beggar children.  Their parents had probably put them up to begging so that they would not have to feed them or something.  

The hotel room we had was small in that it only had a tiny kitchenette, two beds, a television, and a bathroom.  Sneaking in from the parked jeep into our room was easy, it was still early in the morning and no one was up yet. Even if we were seen, Duo could pull off a drunken act that could fool anyone and we'd just say we were out partying the whole night.  We had been in and out of the room at all hours over the past few days just so people were not suspicious of when we actually did go out and do our mission.  

Once we got into the room and locked the door. We then assessed the damage to ourselves.  I knew I was uninjured.  Chang had some very minor burns to his arms and hands that did not require any treatment other than cleaning. He probably would not even feel them tomorrow. Duo had a few more burns on his arms and hands but none that were serious.  We cleaned and put ointment on his burns and wrapped them for the night. If he wore long sleeves tomorrow, no one would notice. 

"Maxwell!" Chang intoned.  "You need rest. Get in bed now."  
  


I could see that the pilot from L5 was as pleasant as usual after a mission. Of course, I do not blame him for his attitude towards Duo for almost blowing the whole mission. I am just surprised that he has not started to lecture our braided companion about the danger he put us all in.  Then again, Chang seemed ready and willing enough to help Duo in the first place.  If I remember correctly, he was helping even before Duo asked me to help. Somehow I do not think I know the whole story as to what was going on back there.  

Duo did not even say anything back to Chang.  He just ran into the bathroom briefly to clean himself up and then he was climbing into bed.  I waited until Chang was finished taking his turn in the bathroom to take mine. When I returned, it was to the same old fight we had had the whole time we were staying here. 

"Winner, take a bed.  You don't have to sleep on the floor," Chang started.  "You can either double up with one of us or something, but after the mission you should sleep on the hard floor."

"I'm fine on the floor," I lied.  I would have preferred to sleep up on the beds but there were just some things that I did not allow myself to do.  I do not share a bed with my fellow pilots.  I just do not need any one of them accusing me trying to do something to them in their sleep.  That and I just assumed that Chang was offering more out of formality than anything else since I am sure that none of them wants to sleep with me.  Ah the fun of being the gay soldier.  "Anyways, you two both got hurt during the mission, I wouldn't want you to have to double up and end up hurting each other more."

"But you were driving and may have to drive later on when we leave tonight.  You need as much rest as you can get…" Chang argued and then his voice dropped off and I think he mumbled something about the rest of them not going to get much sleep.  I do not know what he meant by that though.

"Wu-man, you aren't going to win the argument with Quat," Duo said saving me from any further explanation.  Chang shook his head and took the empty bed.   I shut off the light and lay in the space between the beds.  There was ample room so I was not bumping into things if I rolled over, plus the floor was carpeted and I had a blanket and pillow.  It was not that bad, really.

I do not even think I had slept an hour before I groggily woke again.  I had not really heard anything, I do not think, nothing loud, that is.  I glanced towards the window and saw the graying of the sky to signify that dawn was only a short time away. I rolled over to go back to sleep when I noticed that there were two people on Duo's bed.  Looking closer in the dim light, I could make out my two partners on the bed- one sitting facing the headboard the other leaning into that one facing him.  I blinked a few times and sat up.  It was definitely Chang sitting up and holding Duo who was clinging to him.  Poor Maxwell's shoulders shook in what I assumed were silent sobs while Chang's hand rubbed his back in what looked like the gentlest thing I have ever seen that Chinese youth do.  Staining my ears I could just make out the sound of Chang whispering in Chinese. I really did not know what to think at that moment.  

Just at that moment, the interloper on Duo's bed looked at me.  He looked so tired even in the dimness of the room.  He nodded once at me and went back to soothing Duo.  I was still in the proverbial dark about what was going on but I got the point that it had nothing to do with me right now. I lay back down and just watched them for a long time. By the time the gray, predawn light turned into the pink and then golden light of dawn, Duo seemed to have fallen into a calm sleep and Chang had quieted his murmurings. He looked at me again and this time I could see the exhaustion and the sadness on his face even more clearly now.  I could tell that something very bad had happened last night and they were both paying for it. I just wished I knew what it was so I could help.

Chang said something to me that I did not understand after he realized that I was still watching them.

"I'm sorry, but I don't speak Chinese," I replied in Japanese.

"I thought as much," he replied in perfect English.  He was holding out on us, or I just assumed too much.  "Before you ask, I went to an English school as a child and therefore am quite fluent."

"Oh," I replied quite abashed.  "What happened?"

That was a catch all question for me.  I did not even know if I was asking him what happened tonight, what happened with him and Duo, or what happened that he went to an English school.  I was still quite confused as to what was going on here.  It seems that I did not know that much at all about either of the other two pilots I was with.  I thought Duo and me were friends and if he needed anything at all that he was ask me first. I did not think Chang and him got along at all let alone enough to support each other like they were. 

"The mission…brought back memories for Duo," Chang whispered to me. It was the first time that I had heard him use Duo's first name.  He then continued after gave him a confused look "I thought you would realize, since you are his friend, how hard it would be for him to watch a church burn?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied truthfully.  Duo and I were friends, I thought, but he had never told me anything about a church.  He never talked about his childhood much.  When he did, he spoke of his father and his sister, Helen.  I never heard any mention of a church.

"He must not have told you…" Chang said thoughtfully.  He then looked down at the sleeping youth curled up to him and stroked his back slightly. 

"Told me what?"

Chang seemed to debate whether to tell me anything or not but then spoke up.  "There was a church fire when he was a boy. Everyone he knew died in it. He was only seven."

"Oh my!" I exclaimed.  I would have said more but my mind was in overdrive.  That would have been in AC 197 and Duo was from L2 – he had at least told me that much.  I remember hearing about a fire in a church back then. It was all over there news and then my tutors told me that all the children had died in it. "Wait a minute! That was the Maxwell Church on L2 wasn't it? Duo was in that?"

The other boy just nodded. 

"Maxwell Church…oh my…Duo Maxwell! He was one of the orphans there! All those little children died!" All the pieces started falling in to place in my mind. Duo's father and sister were not his relatives but a Catholic priest and nun.  He must have lost everything in that fire. No wonder he wanted to help the priest at the church.  

"Not all of them died," came a muffled voice that must have been Duo.  He sat up; wiped the sleep and dried tears from his eyes before looking at me.  "I can say that I lived through it, I wasn't there with them when it happened. If I was, I could have…"

"Shh, Duo, you know you couldn't have possibly done anything to stop it. It wasn't your fault," Chang cut in like he was used to saying those words to him.  

"I know, Fei, I know. You keep reminding me…. it's just…tonight…"

"You stopped the fire and saved the church. No one was hurt…."  
  


"And besides," I cut in. "I think the debris was from that suit that I set the explosives on. From the looks of it burning, it wasn't a fully functional suit but a replica.  That's probably why it exploded like that. The metal was thinner."

"Thanks guys," Duo said.  "Now, I know you're just dying to ask me all sorts of questions, Quat, I know how you are.  But if you want to do that, may I suggest you get up here on the bed so I don't have to stare down at you.  It's a full sized bed; the three of us could easily lay on it."

"Ah…er…" I stammered. I really did not want to go into this fight again.

"Quatre, I know what you're trying to do," Duo started.  "WuFei won't mind having a homosexual in his bed, he's put up with me for months now!"

"Wha??" 

"Is that what it was? I couldn't figure out why he was so adamant about the bed issue," WuFei said.  "I am sorry if I gave you the impression that I would be a hateful person, it was not my intention and I had no idea that that was where your preferences lie."

"Yeah, excuse Fei, he doesn't has finely tuned gaydar like I do!"  Duo received a cuff to the head for that comment. Maybe all their arguments were not really arguments after all. Seeing them in this light really made it seem like they were friendly bantering rather than vicious arguments.  I really guess I did not know my friends as well as I thought I did.  I should probably consider WuFei a friend now too. He had not always seemed so open or friendly to anyone else before now but I must not have been looking at things closely enough.  

I climbed into the bed with them.  I had a lot to learn from my friends and I was not about to miss out on an opportunity where they were willing to share.  It was almost noon by the time exhaustion finally crept in and we started to nod off.  I still do not think I got the whole story from either of them about their pasts but at least I could understand them a little better.  WuFei was rather vague about the period in his life when he attended the English school he mentioned earlier.  There was also a large chunk of time that Duo just glazed over by saying he went through some really hard times after the church burned. 

I got the impression that they both had gone through some things together that gave them a deeper connection to each other than I could ever have with either of them.  WuFei even laughed when Duo mentioned something about a 'baby-shit colored teddy bear'.  I think there are some things that I do not want to know. 

Owari.

A/N: (that you probably won't ready anyways) This is a little shorter than the last fic but my fics are as long as they want to be and no more. I'm sorry I haven't written much lately…IRL again. I hope I didn't write Quatre too badly.   


End file.
